New Beginnings
by Nichole Monroe
Summary: When Pete is hurt rescuing some of his friends from the Purple Dragons will new love emerge for his Turtle brothers? Will the Turtles make more human friends out of Pete's friends? Based off of my Peter Parker, fifth brother story. Turtles/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Peter Hamato was running around the lair trying to get stuff he needed for school. His backpack was in his bedroom, his textbooks were in the living room and his notebooks were in the lab. His brothers, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo were watching as he raced around trying to get everything together.

"He's going to be late." Leo said.

"No he isn't." Don said.

"How do you know?" Mikey asked.

"Because I'm never late, I'm off. See you guys after school." Pete called as he escaped the lair and made it up to the surface. He and his brothers might live in the sewers of Manhattan but Pete went to school in Queens, because that was where he lived before living with his mutated family.

School started at 7:25 in the morning and Pete already had about an hour walk from Central Park to Forest Hills High School in Queens. If Pete thought he could get away with it he would burrow Raph's bike and take it to school, but since Pete didn't have an official license that wouldn't work out to well. Pete was running a little bit late, last night he and his bros stayed out later than usual because they ran into the Purple Dragons. Queens was more of a residential neighborhood than anything else so he couldn't really swing his way to school if he could.

"Hey, Pete, can we talk?" MJ asked. Pete had coming skidding into the halls when the clock struck 7:15, he still had time to talk with his girlfriend at least.

"Hey, MJ, what's up?" he asked as he straightened and whipped the sweat off of his brow. MJ turned towards Pete, she held a fixed expression across her face and her green eyes, which easily gave away any emotion she was feeling were empty of emotion.

"Pete, I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore." She said.

"Do what anymore?" he asked.

"I'm breaking up with you. I just can't sit back and wait for you to call me. But I will keep everything a secret, I promise." Pete stepped back, shock written across his face.

"MJ, please, I'll make more time for you." He said. MJ shook her head and walked away.

Pete watched her retreating back in shock. The girl he had almost given his life for, multiple times, and just broken up with him. His eyes began to water but quickly blinked them hard as his sadness quickly melted and he followed her, stealthily to her locker. What he saw there tore out his heart and ripped it into tiny little shreds. MJ was locking lips with Flash Thompson, the guy Pete had stolen MJ from. His sadness switched to anger, by the way they were holding each other it would seem that they had been together for about a month. MJ cheated on him.

Pete turned away and headed for his own locker, anger building up in his system. He now knew why Raph would be constantly at the punching bag. Once at his locker somebody grabbed onto his shoulder, reacting instinctively Pete shoved the guy into the locker beside them.

"Easy, Pete, it's just me." Rylan said. Pete's mind cleared and he saw the dark blue eyes of his best friend, Rylan Shilton.

"I'm not really in the mood Ry." Pete said in a grumble.

"Not in a mood he says." Another voice said from behind him.

"This is Pete we're talking about, he's always in the mood for something." A slightly higher voice said.

Pete turned to see his two other friends, Zachary Clay and Dakota George. Koda had his arm thrown around Zach's shoulder in a loving fashion, they were together, and it didn't bother Rylan and Peter in the slightest.

"So what's eating you?" Zach asked.

"MJ." Pete mumbled.

"Uh-oh, what that girl do this time?" Koda asked.

"She broke up with me." Pete snarled as he jammed his AP Chemistry book in his book bag.

"Dude, what?" Ry asked.

"You heard me." He said.

"That sucks, man." Zach said.

"Did she give you a reason?" Koda asked.

Before Pete could answer a red head girl wrapped her arms around Rylan's waist. Mackenzie Gabel, or Kenzie, had been going out with Rylan for a good year now.

"What are you boys talking about that has made our sweet Brainiac look ready to kill something?" she asked.

"MJ broke up with him this morning." Ry said.

"And we were about to get the answer as to why." Koda said. Kenzie turned her forest green eyes over to Peter, sympathy evident in those eyes.

"I'm sorry Peter, did she give you a reason?" she asked. Pete took a deep breath and let it out as they walked down the hallway to their first hour class.

"All she said to be was that it was because I haven't spent a lot of time with her. She walked away, I followed her only to see her making out with Flash. I think she was cheating on me." Pete said. Sharp intakes of breath were signaled throughout their small group as Pete declared that.

"Oh, Pete, I'm so sorry." Kenzie said. Pete waved it away as he separated from the group and into his English class.

Rylan turned to others and sighed. He shared first period with Pete, if he was this pissed, they didn't want to even know what the rest of the day will hold. Kenzie hugged Ry and gave him a kiss as she darted off to her first period class. Rylan shared a look with Zach and Koda, only to see that they were in the middle of a make-out session and Ry just sighed and walked into the class room as well.

The day passed by rather slowly for Pete's liking, by the end of the day he was more than ready to go home and sit in his room the rest of the day, by himself. As Pete was leaving he was being watched by five girls.

Kenzie stopped her twin and her friends when she spotted Pete walking by himself. He looked dejected and she was worried he was going to do something stupid. She watched as he pulled out his shell-shaped cell phone and lifted it to his ear.

"Kenz? What's going on?" Cheyenne asked. Cheyenne, her twin sister, had brown hair and was two inches shorter than Kenzie, the only thing they had in common with their looks were their forest green eyes.

"It's Pete, I feel sorry for the guy." Kenzie said.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that." The tallest girl, Hazel said. At 6' even Hazel towered over her friends, and most of the time her hazel eyes sparkled with mischief. Her blond hair was just below her chin and framed her face quite well, even with the pink streak going through it. "Poor guy."

"What happened?" Mercedes asked. Mercy had black hair tied back into a pony tail and her light green eyes calculating as she watched Pete walked by.

"His girlfriend broke up with him, and then he saw her with Flash." Hazel said.

"Maybe she just got back together with him or something after she broke it off." The last girl said. Juliana or Juli or Ana, is a Hispanic girl with her black hair cut into a pixie style and her brown eyes just waiting for someone to try something.

"I don't think so, Pete's feeling are usually spot on." Kenzie said.

"That's right, you're dating his best friend." Chey said.

"Do you think he'll do something stupid?" Mercy asked.

"I don't know." Kenzie responded.

"Come on, we're going to be late for practice." Juli said. Kenzie sighed and forced her gaze away from her hurt friend and towards the swim hall that they all had swim practice.

Pete pulled out his cell phone and dialed the only person who could possible help him in this. Casey Jones came into their lives quite suddenly but now Pete was grateful for it. Pete quickly pressed Casey's name and waited for him to answer.

"Pete, why are ya calling me this early?" Casey's thick voice answered.

"Case, I need some advice, can I come over?" Pete asked.

"Sure, ya know ya can. What's up?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when I'm there." Pete said.

"Alright, how far away are ya?"

"About 20 minutes, I gotta call my bros, let them know where I'm going otherwise they'd worry."

"Ya better, I don't need to be on either of their bad sides. See ya soon, kid." Casey hung up the phone and Pete quickly dialed Donnie.

"Pete, what's up?" Donnie asked on the third ring.

"Nothing, listen, I'm just letting you guys know I'm going over to Casey's for a bit, I need some human advice." Pete said.

"Oh," Donnie said sounding kind of dejected. "What time do you think you'll be home?"

"I'm not sure, I'll call when I'm about to leave."

"Okay, I'll tell the others."

Don hung up the phone and Pete continued his twenty or so minute trek to Casey's apartment. Pete tuned everything around him out as he made the journey. Before he knew he was standing outside Casey's door. He raised his fist to knock and Casey opened the door to let the teenager in. Pete walked in and sat down in a chair next to the lone recliner in the living room.

"So what's up Pete?" Casey asked sitting down and handing Pete a beer. While Pete never drank before, he felt he could go for a beer. Pete took it, popped off the top and took a swig.

Casey was now beginning to worry, never, in all the while he's know Pete did he ever drink. Something bad must have happened for him to suddenly take Case up on his offer.

"What do you do Casey, when the girl you thought loved you breaks up with you and then you spy her practically going at it with her ex?" Pete asked never looking up to see Casey's reaction.

"Dude, you spot MJ cheating on you?" Casey asked.

"I don't know if she actually was, but by the looks of things, I'd say yes, she was." He sighed and took another swig of beer. Casey sighed, he wasn't sure if he could tell Pete the right thing to do. He went through this when he was Pete's age and he didn't handle things well, in fact, he got suspended.

"Oh, Pete, I'm not the best of guys to come to in these types of situations. In fact, the person you should probably talk to is April or one of your friends." Casey said.

"I know, but I'm just so angry, I want to go and track down Flash and beat the living shell out of him again." Pete said. Casey stood up as Pete swallowed down the rest of his bottle of beer and kneeled in front of him.

"Pete, man, you don't want to do that, I did that and I got suspended and if you do that outside of school you'd probably end up in jail." He said.

"Who says I'll get caught?" Pete challenged.

"Oh Pete, listen to your head and not your broken heart, I know you feel shattered. Just don't do anything until you've thought about it, brainstorm it. I know you're good at that."

Pete looked at the man before him, he and Casey may not get along half the time, but he is a good friend to have. Pete nodded and looked down to his backpack leaning against his legs.

"You're right Case, thanks; I think I'm going to go home now. I'm starting to feel a little woozy." Casey chuckled and helped the teen up.

"That'll be the beer; you've had your first beer now. Just don't do anything stupid now that you've had a taste of it." Casey said. Pete chuckled and swung the back pack over one shoulder and headed out the door. Once outside the building he pulled out his shell cell and called Donnie back.

"Hey Pete, you headed home now?" Donnie questioned in greeting.

"Yeah, I am, I'll tell you guys what happened when I get home." Pete said.

"Good, Mikey's been questioning me since you called to let us know. We'll see you in a few minutes, bro." he said.

"Yeah, see ya." Pete said hanging up.

Kenzie, Chey, Hazel, Mercy and Juli were in Manhattan after swim practice was over for the five girls. They were headed over to their favorite pizza place, which happened to be in Manhattan. The sun was just about ready to set and they had their eyes out. The Purple Dragons were still crawling all over Manhattan, and the girls knew that nothing would stop them from mugging the five teenagers.

"I've always hated walking around Manhattan at night." Hazel said.

"What, are you scared?" Juli asked the tall girl.

"No, I'm not scared, I'm just cautious, this part of New York is danger at night. Haven't you watched the news?" she asked.

"Of course I have, but there are the unsung heroes around here." Kenzie said.

"Yeah, like Spider-Man and that new superhero, Turtle Titan, oh, and don't forget Silver Sentry." Hazel said.

"Trust Hazel to mention the superheroes." Chey said.

"Of course I would." She said sticking her tongue out at the brunette.

The five girls began laughing as they walked along the side walk. What they didn't see coming though was the group of fifteen Purple Dragons walking behind them, ready to make their move. Dragonface lead the group so they could corner the girls into a dead end alley.

Mercy had a smile on her face as they walked down the street. But she looked behind her as she sometimes did when she thought they were being followed. The quick glance behind her showed that a large group of Purple Dragons were following them. Mercy quickly looked back to the others and tapped Juli on the shoulder.

"What Mercy?" she asked.

"Shh, we're being followed. I don't want the others to freak out." Mercy whispered just loud enough for Juli to hear her. Juli glanced behind her as well and spotted the group following them.

"So what do we do, Mercy?" she asked.

"Keep calm, we're the only ones with any actual training in any self-defense. If it comes to it, we can't take them all, there's too many."

"I think we can take them, their just a bunch of thugs."

"What are you guys talking about?" Hazel asked. She was had stopped and was now walking beside the two older girls.

"It's nothing Haze, let's just keep going, it'll be better once we get there." Mercy said.

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Chey asked. They stopped walked but Mercy and Juli were trying to get them to keep walking.

"You girls shouldn't have stopped." The leader of the gang said.

"Oh, that's what you were talking about." Hazel said.

"Oh god, this is really bad." Kenzie said pulling out her phone to try and call for help.

"Put down the phone red, you're surrounded." The leader said pointing a gun at Kenzie. Gasping, the girls were backed up into an alley way where they were cornered.

Peter was walking down the very same street on the opposite when he heard laughter coming from the alley way across the street. The street itself was pretty much abandoned but what he saw made is already hot blood boiling. Fifteen Purple Dragons were cornering a group of five girls. Pete caught a glimpse of red hair and blonde hair with pink streaks and Pete pulled out his Kusari-gama and tied on his green bandana. Those girls were friends of his, though they don't hang out too often.

"Blondie, give us all the money you have." Dragonface said. Hazel was standing stock still, scared out of her wits; she looked over at Mercy and Juli.

"Just do it." Mercy said softly. Then before Hazel could do anything a figure jumped over the crowd of Purple Dragons and landed softly in front of the five girls twirling a weight chain.

"What do you Dragon's think you're doing?" Pete asked. The girls sighed in relief, though they weren't entirely sure they were safe.

"Why didn't you just call the police?" Kenzie asked.

"Over Dragons? These guys are easy." Pete said tightening his grip on the sickle in his left hand.

"But that would have been the smart thing to do." Chey said just as the Dragons started talking.

"You! What are you doing here?" Dragonface asked.

"What do you mean? My bros and I always kick your butts." Pete said twirling the weighted end of his chain.

At the end of that Pete jumped at them as he fought to protect the girls. It was much easier said than done, that beer he drank slowed he reflexes some but he was still quick enough to bash the Dragons around until Dragonface pulled out his gun. The sound of gun fire and grunting made everyone stand still except for Peter. He dropped his weapon put a hand to his stomach and lifting away to see it covered in blood.

"Oh crud, let's get out of here!" one of the dragons exclaimed. All fifteen dragons ran out of the alley way and left the girls to deal with the wounded teenager who risked his life.

"Peter!" Kenzie exclaimed. She made it to his side just as he collapsed on his knees.

"Oh god, I'm calling 911." Chey said pulling out her cell phone.

"No, call my brothers." Pete gasped.

"What? Pete, you've been shot, if you don't get help you'll die." Mercy said.

"No…call Donnie." Pete pleaded pulling out his shell cell. Kenzie grasped the shell like phone and looked into Pete's shining blue eyes full of pain.

"All right, Hazel, keep pressure over the hole, we need to stop the bleeding." Kenzie said as she went through his contact list. Hazel knelt down and pressed her hands on the bleeding wound.

"Pete, what's up?" a voice asked Kenzie after a couple of rings.

"Don, my name is Kenzie, one of Pete's friends." Kenzie said.

"Where's my brother, Kenzie, and why do you have his phone?" Don asked.

"He's been shot, we wanted to call for an ambulance but he insisted on you guys." Kenzie said.

"What do you mean shot?!" Don exclaimed. "Leo, Mikey, Raph, we need to get to Pete now!"

"He was protecting my friends and I from about 15 Purple Dragons, one of them brought a gun." Kenzie said.

"The Purple Dragons shot my brother?" Don asked in disbelief and slightly panicky.

"The Purple Dragons did what now?" a voice growled over the line.

"Hush Raph, Kenzie, listen to me, do you have direct pressure over the wound?" Don asked.

"Yes, my friend Hazel is keeping pressure on it. Mercy, Chey and Juli are trying to keep him awake."

"Good, that's good, you don't happen to have any type of bandages on you, do you?" he asked. Squealing could be heard over the line and Kenzie could tell that they were breaking the speed limit trying to get to them.

"No, a couple of us have a jacket but could we use his head band?" she asked.

"Is it green?" he asked.

"Um, yes,"

"Use it."

"Okay, Juli, take off the bandana and help Hazel out." Juli nodded and took off the green fabric and nodded to Hazel. Hazel lifted her hands and the bullet wound began oozing blood again.

"Kenz, this is still bleeding pretty heavily." Hazel said pressing her hands on the fabric.

"Don, you guys better hurry." Kenzie said.

"Don't worry; we're about thirty seconds from you." Don said. "Now, I need you guys to not freak out when we get there. We're not normal, we're turtles alright, but we are Peter's older brothers, and we'd do anything to protect him."

"Wait, what?" Kenzie asked as a large green truck zipped into the lot with the girls.

Out popped four big turtles, each walking on two legs, wearing different colored bandanas and carrying different weapons, and they were headed right towards the group protecting the fallen teen. Mercy and Juli jumped up and out to try and protect Peter from further harm.

"Easy there, we're Peter's brothers, I know it's hard to explain but we can help him, he isn't exactly normal." The purple wearing turtle said. Kenzie stilled, that was Don's voice coming out of the turtle's mouth.

"Don?" she asked.

"You must be Kenzie, please, just let us help our brother, you five are more than welcome to come with us." Donnie said.

"Donnie….." Pete groaned. The turtles made their way to their fallen brother and blanched at how pale he is. The blond kneeling next to him keep the pressure on his wound hadn't moved at all.

"Hey Pete, you need to stay awake for us bro." the blue wearing turtle said kneeling down and grasping his left hand.

"Hazel, let them help." Kenzie said. The blonde looked at the olive green turtle next to her and nodded.

"Please help him, he basically saved us." Hazel said.

"Don't worry Hazel, I can get my brother up and moving around in no time." Donnie said he turned back to Peter and examined the wound once he uncovered it a bit. "Alright," he put the bandana back on the wound. "Leo, keep pressure on the wound, Raph and Mikey gently pick Pete up, let's get him to the van. You girls, go and ahead and follow us. But please keep all questions to yourselves until we've saved Peter."

"I can help, if you need it." Chey said. Don studied her for a moment and nodded and they all climbed into the van.

"Leo, you drive." Leo nodded and climbed into the driver's seat and they headed back to the lair.

"I can't believe those cowards brought a gun." The red wearing turtle said.

"It's the Purple Dragon's, they should have been easier to take care of." The orange wearing turtle said.

"I know," Pete said with a chuckle, I just didn't see the gun.

"I was just about to warn you, Pete, when he pulled the trigger." Chey said as she kept the pressure on the wound.

"It's okay Chey, I'll be okay, Donnie will get me back to normal in a pinch." Pete said quietly.

"Shh, Pete, don't talk, let's just get you back to the lab, I'll be able to work on you there." Donnie said.

The girls sat together in a group and watched as Don and Chey did what little they could do on Pete in the cooped up van. They watched the red and orange wearing turtles close by. The orange spotted them and sat down next to Hazel. He noticed her blood stained hands and got up again. He came back shortly after that with a bottle of water and a clean cloth.

"Here, you can use these for now, to get the blood off." He said handing Hazel the items.

"Thank you…."

"Mikey, my name is Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey." Mikey said. Hazel smiled and poured the water on the cloth and began scrubbing her left hand.

"Thanks, my name is Hazel." Hazel muttered as she began scrubbing off the blood.

"Thank you." Mikey said.

"For what?" she asked.

"For helping Pete even if you didn't have to."

"Oh Mikey, I'm glad I can help, but why didn't he want us to call for an ambulance?"

"I've been wondering that myself." Mercy said.

"We'll tell you when we get back to the lair, it's quite a story, almost as exciting as ours." Raph said.

"Oh, this is Raphael, but you can call him Raph, and the one driving is Leonardo, but you can call him Leo." Mikey said.

"Kenzie was the one who called Donnie, Chey is Kenzie's twin sister, who's helping Donnie at the moment. Juli the pixie cut girl and this is Mercy." Hazel said pointing to each of her friends.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Me too, I just wish it was under better circumstances." Mercy said.

"Leo, you need to hurry up." Donnie called to Leo.

"We're pulling into the garage now." Leo said.

"Good, Chey you come with me and get the lab ready. Mike, Raph bring Pete down as gently as you can, but don't jostle him too much. Leo, bring the girls down once Raph and Mikey get Pete down." Donnie said.

Donnie led Chey down into the lair and Raph and Mikey got Pete ready to transport him and Leo stayed back with the four other girls. Once Raph and Mikey disappeared with Pete, Leo led the girls into the lift and down into the lair. The four girls stared in awe at the underground home.

"You girls can wait in the living room if you like." Leo said.

"Can you show me the bathroom so I can wash my hands properly?" Hazel asked. Leo looked at her hands to see them still stained red from his brother's blood.

"Sure, it's right here." Leo said walking over to a doorway on the left. Hazel nodded and walked into it and closed the door behind her as she began washing her hands. The three other girls walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch and Leo went over to Master Splinter's room to explain to him what happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Leo walked into Master Splinter's room and sighed. This wasn't something he liked to do. Seeing one of his brothers hurt like this rarely happened but when it did Leo was always there to tall their sensei. Leo knocked on the door of their father's room and with a enter he walked into the room and kneeled in front of their meditating sensei.

"What is troubling you my son?" Splinter asked.

"It's Peter, he's been shot." Leo said looking at their father. Splinter opened his eyes and looked at his oldest son.

"How did this happen?" he asked sharply.

"Pete stopped a mugging by the Purple Dragons. Apparently they had cornered friends of his so he jumped in to intervene. His friends are down here as well. They wouldn't leave him in that alley." Splinter sighed and stood up.

"Let us go and talk to these friends of his. Let us see what there side of things are."

The two walked back out into the main living area. Four of the five girls were sitting in the living room sitting quietly and the fifth was in the lab with Donnie trying to save Peter's life. As the duo walked over to the living room the four girls stood up and stared at the new addition to the mutants they are around now.

The shortest girl stepped forward and bowed in respect. She recognized a Master when she saw one. Splinter smiled and bowed back. He stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Please sit down and introduce yourselves and explain what has happened this evening." Splinter said. He took the chair and the girls were together on the couch.

"Before we do that, do you have a soda or something? I'm diabetic and am beginning to feel my levels drop." The Hispanic girl said. Raph and Mikey glanced at her unsure before the shortest girl snapped her gaze towards her.

"Juli!" she exclaimed.

"It's okay, I can go and get a can while you guys start talking." Mikey said. The orange banded turtle left the living room to go and get a can while the others turned to the four girls.

"My name is Mercedes Kirkwood, please call me Mercy." The girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail said.

"Juliana Vazquez, but you can call me either Juli or Ana." The Hispanic girl said. She had short hair that framed her face rather well.

"Mackenzie Gabel, most people just call me Kenzie." The red head said. "My sister Cheyenne is in the lab with Don." Splinter nodded and looked at the last girl.

"I'm Hazel Conway." She said quietly. Her pink stripped hair hanging around herself as if to match her mood.

"My name is Splinter, and you have already met my sons. Please tell me what has happened to Peter." Mercy stood up and began the story.

"We had decided to go to Manhattan after swim practice today. We usually wind up going somewhere afterward to just relax. It was getting ready to be dark out and we were walking down a pretty much deserted street. Juli and I noticed that we were being followed but the others didn't and stopped to see what we were talking about. That's when the Dragon's cornered us in an alley that was a dead end. Pete soon jumped in between us and the Purple Dragons. He didn't have to, Juli and I have training in Tae Kwon Do but 2 against 15 is a little difficult for us to manage ourselves."

"2 against 15 is easy for us. It's a warm up." Raph said.

"For you maybe, we haven't really had to use it against a group like that. Anyway, Pete jumped in between us and began fighting them, not even breaking a sweat. He moved so fluidly but he stood still for a second too long and the leader fired his gun. Cheyenne was about to warn him right as the shot was fired. Once the Dragons realized what had happened they cleared out of there quickly." Mercy said.

"Yeah, seems about right. They're nothing but cowards." Raph said.

"How come Pete didn't dodge it? He should have sensed it coming." Mikey asked. The girls looked at the orange banded turtle in question, nobody could dodge a bullet once it was fired at them.

"I don't know Mikey. Did something happen at school today that might have gotten Pete in a funk?" Leo asked. Collectively all four girls sighed.

"Yeah, something did happen. MJ broke up with him. Pete followed her afterward to see her making out with her ex. He believes that she may have cheated on him." Kenzie said. The three brothers stared wide eyed and looked at their sensei.

"Why would she do this? Pete loved her, like a lot." Mikey said.

"I don't know, but he was really upset. He almost punched Rylan this morning after it happened." Kenzie said.

"Whose Rylan?" Raph asked. Now it was the girls' turn to look wide eyed at the turtle brothers.

"Rylan is Pete's best friend. His other friends are Dakota and Zach. He sometimes hangs with us if none of the guys are there or he is need of a study session or we need help with homework and none of us can figure it out ourselves." Mercy said.

"How did you not know that?" Juli asked as she took a drink of the soda Mikey brought her.

"Pete never really mentioned them." Leo said.

"Why wouldn't he? He's always around them." Hazel asked.

"That's probably because he feels bad that he can have friends while we don't have many ourselves." Splinter said.

"We have plenty of friends!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Our own ages?" Leo asked.

"Angel is." Mikey defended.

"Exactly, most of our friends are adults we don't have many friends our own age." Raph said.

"I'm sorry, it must be lonely down here." Kenzie said.

"It's not so bad. We have each other." Mikey said.

They fell into an awkward silence as they heard the movement from within the lab and the quiet talking from Don and Cheyenne from within. It seemed like forever before they finally emerged from the lab. Immediately the turtle brothers walked over to their brainy brother to see how their human brother was doing.

"How is he Donatello?" Splinter asked. Don rubbed his tired eyes around his purple bandana and looked at their Sensei.

"He'll be okay. It took a while to find the bullet and stop the bleeding but he is resting. He'll be out for a while now but he should make a full recovery." Don said.

"Good. You did well my son. Now go rest. Your brothers and I will look after Peter until he wakes up." Splinter said.

"No, I'll be fine. Peter should be waking up soon, but he'll be sleeping off and on for the next couple of days." Don said. Leo walked to his nerdy brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You did good, Don. Get some rest. We'll call you if anything happens." Leo said. Don sighed, he knew he wasn't going to win this fight at all. Don walked up the stairs to go to his room for a short rest while the others took turns to watch over their fallen brother.

"If you want, I can take the girls home while you take first watch, Leo." Raph said. Leo looked at his hot-headed brother with a grateful look.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks, bro." Leo said.

"Will you let us know how he's doing?" Mercy asked.

"Of course you can. You're more than welcome to come down here anytime." Leo said.

"Leonardo is right, you're now our friends and more importantly allies. You're welcome down here anytime." Splinter said. "Now, if you'll excuse me." Splinter left the group of teenagers to what they were doing and walked to his room.

Raph left with the group of five girls to take them home and Leo went into the lab and Mikey sat down on the couch not really watching anything. When Leo walked into the lab his breath caught in his throat. Pete was really pale underneath the pale white sheet. Leo sat down heavily on the chair and watched as his brother's chest rose and fell with each breath.

"Good grief, bro. You sure know how to scare the living shell out of us." Leo said as he carded his fingers through Pete's brown hair. Leo could feel the sweat accumulating on his forehead and hair.

Leo rubbed a hand over his face and stared down at his feet as he waited for Pete to wake up. The hours slowly slipped by as Leo waited for Pete to wake up. Several times he rubbed a hand over his eyes as he tried to stay awake. He placed a hand over Pete's forehead once again to feel heat radiating from his skin.

"That's not a good sign." Leo whispered to himself. Leo went to the door of the lab to see Mikey still sitting in the living room and watching some sort of TV show. "Mikey!" The orange banded turtle looked over at his older brother and walked over to see what was wrong.

"Leo, what's up?" he asked.

"I need you to sit with Pete. I need to get Donnie. I think Pete has a fever." Leo explained. Mikey's blue eyes widened and walked into the lab to Pete's side and gently placed a hand over his forehead as well before removing it.

"That's can't be good." Mikey whispered. He turned to his brother and nodded. Leo gave a small smile and raced out of the room to go and get Don.

Leo entered Don's room without thinking about knocking. Don jumped up in bed at the sudden intrusion of his bedroom. He looked at the intruder that was his brother. Once he rubbed the sleep from his eyes he focused on Leo.

"What do you need Leo? Is it Pete?" he asked jumping up immediately.

"Yeah, I think he has a fever." Leo said.

"Shell!" Donnie exclaimed as he raced from the room.

Leo followed Don down the stairs and into the lab where Mikey was still sitting next to Pete's sleeping form. Donnie took out the thermometer and stuck it in Pete's mouth underneath his tongue.

"Mikey, I need you to go and get a bowl of cool water and some wash cloths." Mikey nodded and turned and ran out of the lab to go and get the required stuff. Donnie turned back to Leo and just sighed as a beep echoed into his mind. Donnie took the thermometer out of his mouth and looked at the reading.

"Great, he does have a fever. 101.4 degrees. If we don't get it down soon his brain will cook." Donnie said. Leo looked down at Peter in worry as Mikey came back in with the bowl and wash cloths.

"Do you think he has an infection?" Leo asked.

"I hope not. Pete has an allergy to Penicillin. I have some stuff I can give him, but I don't know if it will work." Donnie said. Leo sat down and picked up a soaked wash cloth and rung it out and placed it on Pete's head.

"What stuff do you have Don?" he asked.

"I have some Zithromax but I don't know if it will work on him. If I had some Cipro, Oculfox or Biaxin then maybe it will help him."

"Why can't you use what you have?" Mikey asked.

"Because, it's used for smaller infections, this is because he was shot. We need powerful stuff so we could cure him." Donnie said.

"So we need to contact April and Casey to see if they can get us this stuff. But the problem is, who knows if they can get them legally." Leo said. Pete groaned as the cool water hit his burning skin.

"I need to get a hold of April now. See if you guys can get a hold of the girls." Donnie said. Mikey nodded and grabbed Pete shell cell that was sitting on the charger while Don pulled out his phone to call April.

"April?" Donnie said as soon as April answered the phone.

"Donnie? What's going on?" she asked. She sounded worried.

"I need a huge favor from you. Though I'm not sure if you'll be able to get it." Donnie said.

"Okay, what's going on Donnie?" she asked again. Donnie took a deep breath and rubbed his tired eyes with his hand.

"Pete's been shot, he has an infection setting in and he's allergic to Penicillin and all I have is Zithromax, and it not that strong of an antibiotic to fight off this kind of infection."

"Oh my god, okay. What do you need me to do?"

"I need to get my hands on either Cipro, Ocuflox or Biaxin. I know that you can get into some serious trouble but I don't know what else to give him. I do have Penicillin down here but that is not an option, it'll likely kill him just like this infection."

"Don, relax. You're in luck that I do have a cousin who is a doctor living in the city. If I explain what's going on, but she'll want to take a look herself if that'll be okay?" she asked.

"It'll have to be. I'm out of my element here. I can patch us back together but I had to do minor surgery on him. I think I caught everything but a professional would be better." Donnie said reluctantly.

"Good, okay, I'll get a hold of her and she might to see him right away. So talk to Sensei now. I know you did good Don. You're a great doctor for your brothers but none of you have been hurt like this before." Don sighed, that was true and he didn't have the knowledge to help his brother like he'd like to.

"Thanks, April. See you soon." Donnie said hanging up the phone.

"Well?" Leo asked.

"She's getting a hold of her doctor cousin. But she thinks that her cousin will want to see Pete herself. I don't really have a problem with it. I'm a scientist not a surgeon. I don't know if I did everything right." Donnie said hanging his head.

"Okay, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a Doctor in our midst." Leo admitted. Mikey hung up Pete's phone and placed it back on the charger and turned to his older brothers.

"The girls are going to be down after school today. I think they are bringing Pete's friends as well. It's going to be a full house tonight." Mikey said.

"Okay, how many friends are they bringing down here?" Leo asked.

"3, I think. It'll be easier to explain our story only once instead of multiple times though." Mikey said.

"That's true. I'll go inform Sensei. Mikey, help Donnie keep Pete's fever down." Leo added as he left the lab.

***With the Girls***

Kenzie got off of the phone during lunch and looked at her friends. This was not good. She knew that right off the bat. She felt a hand on her arm and looked over to see Chey looking at her with worry evident in her eyes.

"What's going Kenz?" she asked.

"Pete has an infection. He's allergic to Penicillin so they are trying to get their hands on something that will help him." Kenzie informed her friends.

"Great. Rylan, Zach and Koda have been wondering what's going on. You did tell Mikey that we're going to be bringing them with us after school. We need to go find them and tell them some of what's going on." Mercy said.

"Right. They will probably be in their usual spots." Kenzie said. She got up and the others followed her as she made her way to her boyfriend and his friends.

When Rylan spotted her and her friends he smiled. The smile soon fell from his face as he noticed the sad look on all of their faces.

"Kenzie? What's wrong?" Rylan asked. Zach and Koda looked up at that as they were in the middle of helping each other with a piece of homework they were stuck on.

"It's Peter." Kenzie said as she sat down with the others sitting around her.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with Pete?" Zach asked his brown eyes.

"Last night, Pete got shot protecting us from the Purple Dragons. Now, he has an infection and they are having problems finding the right medication to fight the infection as he's allergic to penicillin." Mercy said taking over from where Kenzie left off.

All the blood drained from the boys' faces. They couldn't believe that their friend got shot. Sure this was New York and muggings and people getting shot happen but they didn't expect it to happen to their friend. They looked at each other and then at the girls.

"We're coming with you to see him." Rylan said.

"I know you would be." Kenzie said with a soft smile.

"What hospital is he at?" Koda asked. The girls looked at each other than at them.

"Well, he's not at a hospital. You'll see when we go after school. It's kind of complicated. We don't even have a full explanation ourselves yet." Hazel said softly.

"Shouldn't he be at the hospital? I'm sure they would have killed the infection as soon as they found it." Zach said.

"I'm not sure why he isn't there either. He insisted on home soon after he got shot though." Chey said.

"Of course he did. Why didn't his father force him to go there? I don't understand it." Rylan said.

"I'm sure we'll get the full story after school today. We just have to come up with our own theories until then." Kenzie said.

"Okay, thank you for telling us though. We've been wondering why he hasn't shown up today, but after what happened yesterday I wasn't too surprised. Do you guys know where he lives?" Rylan asked.

"Yeah, we can get there without getting too lost." Juli said.

"Good, then we'll meet here after school. How long would it take to get to his house?" Rylan asked.

"About an hour if not more. He lives near Central Park. That's all I can really say until we get there." Kenzie said. The boys nodded and soon they all stood up to go to their next classes.

The rest of the day seemed to go by slowly for them even if it was only an hour and a half. But when the final bell rang the group of friends gathered together in the cafeteria as instructed. All eight of them walked in silence, wondering how their friend was doing since they had last heard on his condition.

***Back at the Lair***

Donnie and Leo stayed in the lab though Raph and Mikey had to take turns getting them out of the lab for the necessary food and drink they needed. April seemed to be taking forever and Pete only seemed to be getting worse. He was mumbling and it seemed like he was having nightmares quite often.

"What's taking so long?" Raph asked.

"I don't know, but I hope she gets here soon." Donnie said from his perch at Pete's bedside. They had resorted to filling ice in bags and placing them around Pete's burning hot body. It was another hour before they heard April talking to someone they thought was her cousin.

"April, I love you but I think you need to go talk to someone. There is no way that there are 5 mutants walking around Manhattan without someone taking notice to them." a brown haired woman said. April sighed as they entered the main lair.

"Really, Sophia, let me introduce you to Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. Their Sensei you will probably meet later." April said once she got Sophia attention on the mutant turtles. She blinked her blue eyes and rubbed them until she was sure that she wasn't seeing things.

"Okay, you're not crazy, April." She admitted.

"Thank you." April said sarcastically. Mikey chuckled and Sophia turned to focus on them.

"Where is the patient, Peter, right?" Sophia asked.

"Follow me. I would have given him something but I know that Zithromax isn't that strong of an antibiotic." Donnie said.

"Right, I brought Cipro and Biaxin just in case. I'll start him on Cipro and see how he fairs. Now I'm sure that you're aware that it has a black box warning right, Donatello?"

"Right, you got the name right as well. Just call me Donnie or Don." Don said. Sophia nodded and they walked into the lab.

She wasn't expecting a teenage boy lying on the bed in the lab. Sophia was expecting another mutant. Something must have been up for them to not take him to the hospital for the gunshot wound. She nodded in approval as she saw the ice packs and the cool washcloth on his forehead and around his body to keep his body temperature down.

"Where was he shot?"

"Left lower quadrant." Don supplied. Sophia nodded, it looks as if he had some medical knowledge.

Sophia lifted the sheet and nodded and the clean bandage that was over the wound. At least he was being well taken care of. She then carefully lifted the bandage up and frowned at the angry red of the skin underneath. The stitching was done right so the surgery was probably done right. The only thing that she could think of was he probably didn't clean it probably after the surgery.

"Okay, I'm going to ask you a couple questions while I give Peter the medications." Sophia said.

"Okay, I'll answer your questions as long as it pertains to his condition nothing else." Donnie said.

"Fair enough. Was the surgery without any problems?"

"Well, it took a little while to find the bullet and remove it. I repaired any damage to the organs after I pulled the bullet out. Luckily it didn't hit the artery so the bleeding was only venous." Sophia nodded, that was good, veins tend to repair themselves.

"Okay, that's good. Did you clean the wound before you closed up?" Donnie blanched and that was her answer right there.

"Shell. I can't believe I forgot that!" he exclaimed.

"It's okay, luckily for us you acted so quickly. Now, the medicine should work soon. It's a good thing you already had an IV started."

"Thank you. I kind of freaked when I realized he had an infection. I do have penicillin down here but it would do more harm than good in his case. The infection should be gone within a day or two now."

"Correct. We'll just have to keep an eye on him." Donnie nodded in agreement and Sophia walked out of the lab and over to her cousin and the remaining turtles.

"How is Pete now?" the orange banded turtle asked. Sophia had a vague idea that his name is Michelangelo but she wasn't entirely sure.

"Peter will be okay in a day or two. I've administered the antibiotic in the IV that Donatello has going and he's keeping an eye on him incase his body has an adverse reaction to the drug." She turned to her cousin and smiled. "Call if anything goes wrong or if anyone here is in need of a doctor. I'll be more than happy to help."

"You're leaving already?" April asked shocked.

"Don't go quite yet. We will be expecting some more guests here soon and I still need to explain our story to them. Please stay until then." Splinter said walking into the living room with the others.

"Okay, I just figured that's all you needed me to do is all." Sophia said with a hesitant smile at the elderly rat.

"Leonardo, go put on water for tea. I think we'll need at least three batches." Splinter said. Leonardo bowed and headed for the kitchen. Pretty soon there were more voices being heard coming into the lair and eight more people soon joined the ever growing group of friends for the mutant turtles.


	3. Author's Note

**A.N.**

**You guys know I don't like these but I just want to let you know that I am in no way giving up on any of my stories. I'm having a hard time finding the time to write. Yes I'm done with college but I'm doing my extern and I'm working 40 hours a week. So, just give me a little bit and I'll continue whenever I can find the time to sit down and write. Again I'm sorry for the wait everyone.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kenzie, Cheyenne, Hazel, Mercy, Juli, Rylan, Koda and Zach entered the warehouse unnoticed but it wasn't without complaint. The boys still had no idea what was going on and the girls agreed that it would be best to wait until they called the lift.

"Can one of you explain what is going on? Why are we in this seemingly abandoned warehouse? There is no way that Pete lives here." Rylan said.

"We don't exactly know the entire story ourselves, but we were promised the tale today. I guess they only wanted to tell it once." Mercy said.

"Tell us what you know, then." Koda said.

"Pete's family isn't normal, hell they aren't even human. Pete found hem when he was young and they took him in." Chey said.

"What do you mean not human?" Zach asked.

"His brothers are mutated turtles and his father is a mutated rat." Juli said.

"Juli, you can't just spring it on them." Mercy said rubbing her forehead in exasperation.

"What? There is no way to break it to them gently." Juli said throwing her hands up.

"Wait, you aren't kidding with us?" Zach asked.

"No, we're not, we don't know the whole story ourselves but we will learn it today. C'mon." Kenzie said as she called the lift.

"So, we just get in there and we go to where Pete and his brothers live?" Koda asked.

"Yes, now c'mon." Hazel said.

The eight of them climbed into the lift and rode it down into the lair. When the lift opened again all three of the boys' mouths fell open. It was huge. Three of the turtles, two humans and Splinter were pacing and or sitting in the living room, though when the lift opened all of their heads looked over at them.

Leo stood and walked over to them with a small smile on his face. Raph, Mikey, Splinter and the two women that the eight teens didn't recognize were sitting around the living room. Don was probably in with Pete.

"You girls made it. And these guys must be Pete's friends." Leo said.

"You really weren't kidding." Rylan whispered in awe.

"How's he doing?" Hazel asked.

"Resting. We just got the antibiotics in his system so he is on the mend." Leo answered.

"Come on in and join us, young ones. Michelangelo, go and get our guests some refreshments. Raphael and Miss O'Neil go fetch Donatello and Miss O'Neil can sit with Peter." Splinter said.

The eight teenagers walked into the living room. They all sat around either on the sofa or on the floor. Koda, Zach and Rylan were looking around at the numerous TV's and at the training area that was covered in mats and rope before looking back at the mutated creatures that were their best friend's family. Michelangelo came back carrying a twelve pack case of soda and several bottles of water when Donatello and Raphael walked back into the living room.

"Now, would everyone sit down and tell us your name. As well as tell us how you know Peter." Splinter said. The teens looked at each other before Rylan shrugged.

"I'm Rylan Shilton, and Pete and I have been friends for five years." Rylan said. "I'm also dating Kenzie."

"I'm Zachary Clay but call me Zach. Pete and I have been friends for the past five years as well. And I'm dating Koda." Zach said squeezing Koda's knee.

"I'm Dakota George but call me Koda. I've known Pete for almost two year. And yes, Zach and I are together." Koda said. None of them looked disgusted so the two were happy.

"I'm Cheyenne Gabel but everyone calls me Chey. I've known Pete for almost three years, give or take, we all have gone to the same middle school and high school together." Chey said.

"I'm Mackenzie Gabel, but call me Kenzie. Chey and I are twins so I've known Pete for almost three years as well."

"I'm Mercedes Kirkwood but everyone calls me Mercy. I've known of Pete for about six years but didn't start talking to him until about four years ago."

"I'm Juliana Vazquez but you can either call me Juli or Ana. I've known Pete for about three years."

"I'm Hazel Conway. I've probably known Pete the least amount of time, about a year or so."

"And I'm Sophia O'Neil, I'm April's cousin. I just met Peter tonight giving him antibiotics. So I don't know much about him." Sophia said with a slight smile.

"As we all know who you are now, I will now tell you our story. You see fifteen years ago I was but a mere rat wondering around the sewers when I came across four baby turtles crawling around in a strange glowing ooze. I gathered them up in an old coffee can. It was days later that I noticed that we were beginning to change. I had grown as well as the turtles. It was soon after that they began to speak and walk on two legs. It was after their personalities came through that I named them. I found a book on the Renaissance artists. I named them after the fathers or the Renaissance. Leonardo," Leo stood, "Raphael," Raph stood up, "Donatello," Don stood. "and Michelangelo." Mikey stood up and waved with a big goofy smile on his face. "Then I began their martial arts training." Splinter said.

"But where does Peter come in?" Rylan asked.

"It was about five and a half years later that I found Peter. I went out to scavenge for food when I heard something bump a trashcan in the alleyway. Peter was orphaned with no other family, forced to live on the streets. So I took him in and gave him a home."

"That's terrible!" Hazel cried.

"Why didn't he go to an orphanage" Sophia asked.

"We don' know, but if you ask him he may not remember." Don said.

"Do you know what happened to make him an orphan?" Koda asked.

"We do, but we're not the ones who can tell you." Raph snarled crossing his arms over the plastron.

"So, my question is kind of odd, but what happens when you guys get injured?" Zach asked.

"Growing up, Pete and I collected a lot of books many people threw out. We managed to scavenge a computer and rebuilt it. We got a lot of our information online." Don explained.

"The internet is a wonderful place." Sophia said with a smile.

"That sounds like Pete." Rylan said.

"Now, it is a school night. You all are welcome here anytime you are not in school." Splinter said after checking the time.

"Pete needs a doctor's note. We all know that when he wakes up he still won't be able to go back to school for at least two weeks." Chey said.

"Don't you worry about that. I have already written one up. Donnie typed it out on official notation. Peter is good and won't be coming back to school unless he's ready to come back." The kind doctor said with a smile. She handed it over to Rylan who put it into his jacket pocket.

"Can we at least see him before we leave?" Rylan asked.

"Of course, follow me." Don said.

The group followed Don into the infirmary area that they set up. Pete was lying on a bed with a white blanket covering his body. He was pale but no longer sweating. He had dark circles under his eyes like he did after an all-nighter he would pull with Don.

"He looks terrible." Koda said quietly from the doorway.

"He actually isn't as pale as he was yesterday." Kenzie said.

"I'm sure he'll be awake before we know it." April said.

As soon as they felt reassured there was a loud clatter coming from the lift. Then a voice yelled in a very thick Brooklyn accent. The voice made both April and Don rub their foreheads.

"Finally he sees the messages." April sighed.

"You know how Casey is, do you want to stay with Pete?" Don asked.

"Yeah, I don't think I can deal with him at the moment." April sighed sitting back down.

The group of teens walked back into the main room. A man with long black hair was pacing in the living room. You could definitely tell he was stressed about something.

"Wow, Casey, take a breath. What do you mean it's your fault?" Raph asked.

"Pete came by my place after school and I gave him a beer." Casey said exasperated.

"You gave him a beer?" Leo asked.

"He was upset, I thought he needed to unwind. I didn't let him drink it all. Wait…. Maybe I did."

"You should have known something was off with him as soon as he came to your place." Don said rubbing his temples.

"What is done is done. Peter should not have drank but I think he has learned his lesson. We can only be there in the aftermath." Splinter said.

"Girls, go ahead and head on home. We'll let you know when he wakes up." Mikey said.

The teens nodded and looked back at the room Pete was in. They walked back up to the lift and out of the lair. Which left the family to themselves. Casey looked over at the brothers.

"How is he doing anyway?" he asked.

"He's a lot better now. I wasn't sure if he was going to make it for a while." Don answered truthfully.

"Good, I'm sorry, but I talked him out of doing something stupid." Casey said.

"He was thinking of going after the guy who went with MJ before?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, he was, I was just glad that I stopped him, only for him to be shot later." Casey sighed as he sat down on the sofa.

"Casey, it is not your fault that he got shot. We've all come close to getting severely injured before, shell, some of us have." Leo said.

"Now, I suggest that we get out rest. I will watch over Peter tonight." Splinter said. The brothers and their human friends bid each other good night and April and Casey left the lair.


End file.
